Before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Russian cinema genres resembled those common to Europe at the time. In the 1920s, however, Russian filmmakers, armed with bold new ideas about cinematic art and with a revolutionary political ideology, created theories of “montage” and a decade of acknowledged film masterpieces. In the 1930s, the experimental directions of early Soviet cinema were forced to yield to the doctrine of “socialist realism” and a style closer to that of classical (Hollywood) narrative cinema. Film thematics were oriented even more directly toward the regime’s specific political, social, and economic goals. After Stalin’s death in 1953, filmmakers were able to reintroduce personal and even religious and philosophical themes, as well as return to a more ‘poetic’ style, particularly in Ukrainian film. However, official socialist realist doctrine and state censorship remained in place and limited the thematic possibilities. As censorship ended during the Gorbachev period of glasnost (openness), 1985-91, a more honest and naturalistic cinema emerged, along with renewed experimentation in style and structure. In the 1990s and in the early part of this century Russian cinema has reacted to the popularity of American-style genre films by adapting those patterns to deal with new pressing concerns, such as ethnic conflict and the economic traumas of the transition to capitalism.
Among the films to be studied from Ukrainian film studios are: "Man with a Movie Camera" (Dziga Vertov, 1928); "Earth" (Alexander Dovzhenko, 1930); "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (Sergie Paradzhanov, 1964); and "White Bird with a Black Spot" (Yuri Illienko, 1970).

Syllabi are available to current LSA students. IMPORTANT: These syllabi are provided to give students a general idea about the courses, as offered by LSA departments and programs in prior academic terms. The syllabi do not necessarily reflect the assignments, sequence of course materials, and/or course expectations that the faculty and departments/programs have for these same courses in the current and/or future terms.

No Syllabi are on file for SAC 313. Click the button below to search for a different syllabus (UM login required)